If you are reviewing your employee benefits package, you may want to consider continuing education.
While not one of the traditional components of benefits packages for employees, it is an attractive addition.
People like the idea of getting education for free to help their careers and income potential to grow.
Benefits for Employers
Offering continuing education doesn’t just benefit the employee; it provides advantages the employer as well.
The most obvious advantage is the fact that you can promote from within when a higher position opens up. Instead of hiring strangers to take a supervisory position, you can place someone you already know and trust in that job.
It also helps reduce the cost of turnover because employees are more likely to stay with an employer if they feel they can continue to grow and advance.
They also know that they will make more money if they can promote up through the department or even move into a new department within the same company.
Happy Customers
The better trained your staff is, the better satisfied your customers will be.
This translates into more revenue for you. Even small businesses can benefit from helping their employees get more education.
For example, say you own a beauty salon.
As the following article looks at, by offering your staff the opportunity to take cosmetology online classes, they can learn new techniques or expand their knowledge while continuing to work. They can sell their new skills to customers in the form of additional services.
This concept works for just about any small business, so explore how it can help your company.
Are There Any Downsides?
Even if you can see all of the advantages to offering employees continuing education, you may wonder about the downside. The first is the cost.
Of course, you can limit the cost by offering to pay only for tuition or for a portion of the tuition.
To prevent your employees from getting the training and then leaving immediately, you can also include a requirement of service for a reasonable period of time.
For instance, an employee may need to be employed for at least a year and plan to stay at least a year after completion of education.
The other big disadvantage to employers is that employees have gained new skills that they can take elsewhere. However, this is not as big of a problem as you might think.
By offering educational help as part of the employee benefits, you show that your business cares about the people who work there. It inspires loyalty in the staff and the employees are less likely to leave.
People who make a decent salary and have the opportunities to grow and face new challenges in their jobs are less likely to look elsewhere for jobs.
Instead, they will turn their focus inward when they are ready to make changes.
By offering continuing education to employees, you equip them to become even more valuable to your organization and encourage them to stay and share their new skills with your company.
Photo credits: Images courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net and Got Credit
About the Author: Joyce Morse is an author who writes on a variety of topics, including business and education.
